How to Can Salsa-The Easy Way

I am so excited today to share with you the “recipe” for How To Can Salsa-The Easy Way. Really. It is soooo not as hard as you think it is! And it is a great way to become more self-sufficient and build your food storage! (If you don’t have a garden, that’s totally okay! Just pick up the tomatoes at the farmer’s market and you are good to go!) As for us, our garden is going CRAZY! One whole section of my kitchen counter is covered in garden produce! Tomatoes, zucchini (green and yellow), raspberries, herbs. It. Is. Awesome!

How to Can Salsa – The Easy Way

*affiliate links

Now before we begin, I will tell you that reading the beginning of The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving will give you some GREAT background if you want to feel extra confident in your canning! That said, I have included the basics in this post for you!

Supplies You Need to Can Salsa

(In case you have never canned before, there are links to show you what I am taking about!)

Ingredients Need to Can Salsa

You might think it is weird that I am talking about using a mix when it comes to canning salsa. I am telling you…it tastes AMAZING. For a first-time canner, being guaranteed not to fail is huge! Just trust me!

*Note: The whole process of canning salsa takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so make sure you do it at a time when you won’t have to be rushed!

It is important to note that it is NOT recommended to re-use canning lids. They may not seal properly, which can lead to foodborne illnesses. Don’t do it!

Prepping to Can Salsa

The first thing I always do is load my jars and screw on caps into the dishwasher. The jars need to be HOT when the salsa is put into them, so I wait to turn the dishwasher on until I put the tomatoes in to blanch. That way the jars are ready for me and hot, right when I need them!

When you are canning, there is a bit of multi-tasking involved. Here’s what your stove set-up should look like:

Once the water has come to a rolling boil, carefully add your tomatoes. I do that with a large spoon so that I do not get splashed with hot water.

Not gonna lie. once the tomatoes have blanched (boiled for about ten minutes til the skin starts to come off) comes the suckiest (is that a word?) part of the process. Peeling the tomatoes. It isn’t fun…but hang in there, guys…it is so worth it! I am telling you…you will never want to buy jarred sauce again after you taste this stuff!

As you are getting ready to peel the tomatoes, turn the heat for the burner that has your water bath canner to high. Be sure the lid is on. This water will need to be at a rolling boil by the time you put the jars in the bath.

While you are peeling tomatoes, you should have your lids going at a rolling boil to prep them. They need to be hot when you seal the canning jars so that you will get a good tight seal.

While your lids are boiling, dice up the peeled tomatoes (and the tomatillos, if you did some) and place in a large bowl.

You are almost done!

Canning the Salsa

Add the vinegar, Mrs. Wages salsa mix, and a pinch or two of cilantro (fresh or dried). Your salsa is ready to can! Now wasn’t that easy?? (Come on now, nod your head and smile!)

To can it: don’t panic. This is the easy part!

Hopefully if you have timed everything well, your jars are hot and your lids are hot. THIS IS IMPORTANT. If they are not, get them hot before you proceed. Putting salsa in a cold jar will cause the jar to break in the hot water bath. Been there, done that. The lids need to be hot to seal properly. Don’t try to cheat on this…trust me!

Here’s a quick little video showing how to prep the jar of salsa to can it…written instructions follow the clip 🙂

One at a time, remove hot jar from dishwasher, place funnel in top of the jar. Using ladle fill with salsa, but leave about 1/2 inch of space at the top. Using your lid magnet, remove a lid from the boiling water. Carefully place it on the jar. Wipe the bottleneck and top of lid dry with a towel and then screw on the cap. Using your jar lifter, place it in the water bath rack (the water in your water bath should be boiling). Repeat until all of the salsa has been jarred. The go ahead and sink the jars in the boiling water and replace the lid. Keep them at a rolling boil for 15 minutes. Next, turn off the heat. Use your jar lifter to lift them out of the bath and set them on a towel on the counter to dry. Once dry and cool, use a sharpie to label the lid with the date and “salsa”. It is ready to go on your shelf!

If there is a little left over that won’t fill a jar, put it in a container and refrigerate it. You have two weeks to eat it before it will go bad! At our house whatever is leftover never even lasts a day!

Magnet to pick up lids (optional) (again so you don't burn your fingers getting them out of boiling water)

a large cutting board (if it doesn't have a groove around the edge to capture the excess liquid then put a towel underneath it. Peeling tomatoes is a juicy job!)

Note: The whole process of canning salsa takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so make sure you do it at a time when you won't have to be rushed!

Also, it is important to note that it is NOT recommended to re-use canning lids. They may not seal properly, which can lead to foodborne illnesses. Don't do it!

When water bath canning, the first thing I always do is load my jars and screw on caps into the dishwasher. The jars need to be HOT when the salsa is put into them, so I wait to turn the dishwasher on until I put the tomatoes in to blanch. That way the jars are ready for me and hot, right when I need them!

Once the water has come to a rolling boil, carefully add your tomatoes. I do that with a large spoon so that I do not get splashed with hot water.

Not gonna lie. once the tomatoes have blanched (boiled for about ten minutes til the skin starts to come off) comes the suckiest (is that a word?) part of the process. Peeling the tomatoes. It isn't fun...but hang in there, guys...it is so worth it! I am telling you...you will never want to buy jarred sauce again after you taste this stuff!

As you are getting ready to peel the tomatoes, turn the heat for the burner that has your water bath canner to high. Be sure the lid is on. This water will need to be at a rolling boil by the time you put the jars in the bath.

While you are peeling tomatoes, you should have your lids going at a rolling boil to prep them. They need to be hot when you seal the canning jars so that you will get a good tight seal.

While your lids are boiling, dice up the peeled tomatoes (and the tomatillos, if you did some) and place in a large bowl.

Add the vinegar, Mrs. Wages salsa mix, and a pinch or two of cilantro (fresh or dried). Your salsa is ready to can! Now wasn't that easy?? (Come on now, nod your head and smile!)

To can it:

Hopefully if you have timed everything well, your jars are hot and your lids are hot. THIS IS IMPORTANT. If they are not, get them hot before you proceed. Putting salsa in a cold jar will cause the jar to break in the hot water bath. Been there, done that. The lids need to be hot to seal properly. Don't try to cheat on this...trust me!

One at a time, remove hot jar from dishwasher, place funnel in top of the jar. Using ladle fill with salsa, but leave about 1/2 inch of space at the top. Using your lid magnet, remove a lid from the boiling water. Carefully place it on the jar. Wipe the bottleneck and top of lid dry with a towel and then screw on the cap. Using your jar lifter, place it in the water bath rack (the water in your water bath should be boiling). Repeat until all of the salsa has been jarred. The go ahead and sink the jars in the boiling water and replace the lid. Keep them at a rolling boil for 15 minutes. Next, turn off the heat. Use your jar lifter to lift them out of the bath and set them on a towel on the counter to dry. Once dry and cool, use a sharpie to label the lid with the date and "salsa". It is ready to go on your shelf!

If there is a little left over that won't fill a jar, put it in a container and refrigerate it. You have two weeks to eat it before it will go bad! At our house whatever is leftover never even lasts a day!

I am getting ready to can MORE salsa today (third time in 3 weeks). We have so many tomatoes I will probably be doing it a few more times this fall. That is fine with me though. A little work now = homemade salsa all year long! I love seeing canned salsa on my food storage shelves! This past year we ran out Super Bowl Sunday! Not gonna let that happen again. The store stuff gets a big fat thumbs down from me! If you try out canning, let me know how how it goes! You will love the confidence that comes with becoming more self-reliant!

See you next time!

Deb

3 Emergency Prep Tips!

I can tell you three things that you can do THIS WEEK to have better emergency preparedness in your home!

As you wish! Good stuff is coming to your inbox soon!

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

First Name

Email Address

We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.

After you fill in the boxes above, click the button below to get 3 easy emergency prep tips in your inbox! Plus, over time I'll share other tips about topics such as gardening, emergency preparedness, cooking, and food preservation!

4 Responses

Thank you for using our Salsa Mix for your recipe. For you and your followers, our Customer Care Center team is available from 8-5 M-F CST at 800-647-8170. You can also reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter.

I actually do 10 minutes. I realize that is longer than they need to be blanched, but I have found the skin is so much easier to peel off doing it that way. Maybe blanching isn't the proper term for it then---probably should just call it boiling, but whatever it is...it works! :) Thanks for stopping by!